Method and device for providing a video stream for an object of interest

ABSTRACT

A method and device for ranking video feeds provide a user with the best feed depending on what the user wishes to see. The method includes obtaining one or more video feeds and ranking the video feeds. The ranking is based, at least in part, upon input from a viewer indicating an object of interest. The ranking can consider things such as video stream resolution and signal strength.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/668,636, filed Nov. 5, 2012, having inventorsJitesh Arora et al., entitled “METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PROVIDING A VIDEOSTREAM FOR AN OBJECT OF INTEREST”, the contents of which areincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure is related to methods and devices for organizingmultiple video media source streams of an event. The present disclosureis related more specifically to methods and devices for receiving andproviding a user a video media stream of an event selected from multiplevideo media streams of the event based on inputs from the user.

BACKGROUND

Video recording and transmitting devices are now present in mostsmartphones. Given the proliferation of these smartphones, at most anygathering of people (social event, sporting event, political rally,etc.) many smartphones are present. Each smartphone (or other devicewith video capture and transmission capability) presents a potentialvideo media source whose subject is some portion or all of itssurroundings.

Using the example of a sporting event, one camera may be trained on thestadium as a whole, one camera trained on a certain player, one cameratrained on a certain point on a field, one camera trained on thescoreboard, etc. Furthermore, each camera may be different and may becapable of producing different quality of video (resolution, refreshrate, etc.) Still further, the camera operators may be amateurs orprofessionals, may be using a fixed camera (such as with a tripod) orfree handing, and likely have differing viewing angles that providediffering qualities of views of various objects/places/people/events.

While such streams are being generated and even transmitted in realtime, publishing of such streams occurs at a multitude of disparatelocations (both online and through traditional television mediaoutlets). While internet search engines operate reasonably well tocatalog recorded video media, the real-time nature of video streamingfrom a live event does not lend itself to traditional cataloging andindexing that allows for a user to locate the video. Accordingly, formany video streams that are provided to the internet, such streams arenot indexed or organized such that a user could readily find the videostreams.

If a user would happen upon a stream from an event that interests theuser, the user would still be without information as to whether anotherfeed exists and whether the other feed provides increased signalquality. The user would further be without information as to whetheranother video feed exists that provides a better view of a particularpart of the event that the user is particularly interested in. It shouldbe appreciated that “video feed” as used herein describes a stream ofdata that, when processed, provides a video image of an event that isoccurring contemporaneously with the transmission of the data. Stateddifferently, a video feed is a “live feed.” However, it is understoodthat transmission delays are part of any video system and thus, theconcept of “live” and “video feed” does not require real time display tothe millisecond.

Currently, online video streaming requires a website that is set upbeforehand such that the website knows that a camera is going to beoperating at an event and the camera operator specifically transmitshis/her video to be shared on that website. Thus, spontaneous decisionsto create a video stream are not supported in a way that is readilylocatable by viewers.

Still further, except for those individuals providing video feeds aspart of their employment, the generation of video feeds relies on usersgenerating the feeds for enjoyment or general benevolence.

Accordingly, there exists a need for a device and method to provide forreal time organization of video media feeds. There further exists a needfor a device and method of providing information regarding existingvideo feeds and optimizing the selection of feed from multiple feeds.Still further there exists a need for a system and method to reward andincentivize the creation of such video streams.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary location where multiple video mediastreams are created according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing interaction with a video streamclearinghouse according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a smartphone running an application operable to interact withthe clearinghouse of FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 is a computer running an application operable to interact withthe clearinghouse of FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart describing operation of the system of FIG. 2according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an exemplary operation of theclearinghouse of FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing exemplary operation of the process ofregistering a feed with the clearinghouse of FIG. 2 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

In an exemplary and non-limited embodiment, aspects of the invention areembodied in a method of ranking video feeds to provide a user with thebest feed depending on what the user wishes to see. The method includesobtaining one or more video feeds and ranking the video feeds. Theranking is based, at least in part, upon input from a viewer indicatingan object of interest. The ranking can consider things such as videostream resolution and signal strength.

In another exemplary embodiment, a system for providing a video feed toa viewer is provided including a feed receiver operable to receive atleast one video feed; a viewer input receiver operable to determine anobject of interest to the viewer; a feed analyzer operable to determineat least one of features of and content of each received feed; and afeed ranker operable to consider the object of interest and at least oneof the features of and content of each received feed to provide aranking of received feeds.

In another exemplary embodiment, a method of providing a video feed toone or more users is provided including: registering a video feed with afeed aggregator; transmitting data identifying a subject of the videofeed to the feed aggregator; and transmitting the video feed to the feedaggregator.

In another exemplary embodiment, a computer readable medium containingnon-transitory instructions thereon is provided, that when interpretedby at least one processor cause the at least one processor to obtain oneor more video feeds and rank the video feeds. The ranking is based, atleast in part, upon input from a viewer indicating an object ofinterest, the ranking providing a top ranked video feed.

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of an event location 10 (political rally) thatmultiple individuals are attending and one or more of those individuals1, 2, 3, 4, 5 have or are operating video recording and transmissiondevices. Location 10 includes stage 100, podium 102, first presenter104, and second presenter 106.

For purposes of this disclosure, individuals operating recording devicesare referred to as content collection users. Individual 1 is operating aprofessional grade camera on behalf of a television network or otherprofessional media outlet. Individual 2 is operating a professionalgrade camera as an independent freelance reporter. Individual 3 isoperating a smart phone as a video recorder and is an attendee from thegeneral public. Individual 4 is operating a smart phone as a videorecorder and is an attendee associated with the presenter. Individual 5is operating a smart phone as a video recorder and is an attendee fromthe general public.

FIG. 2 shows a system that interfaces with the feeds generated bycontent collection users 1-5 (the feeds will also be referred to as 1-5)to provide a collection point and clearinghouse 20 (or aggregator) thatmakes feeds 1-5 available to viewers via viewing devices 6-9.Clearinghouse 20 illustratively includes a web server 22 that interfaceswith web clients, an application server 24 that runs applications, and adatabase 26 that stores data for use by the application server.

In one embodiment, content collection users 1-5 register their feed,block 700, FIG. 7. Data about the feed is then transmitted toclearinghouse 20, block 710. The feed itself is then transmitted to theclearinghouse or elsewhere, block 720.

In another embodiment, content collection users 1-5 start an applicationor feed, block 500, FIG. 5. Content collection users 1-5, or someoneoperating on their behalf, then registers their feeds with clearinghouse20, block 510. To aid in this, content collection user 1-5 can invokeapplication 300 on the device generating the stream, such as asmartphone as shown in FIG. 3, to instruct that the feed be provided toclearinghouse 20. Alternatively, for feeds that are not generated by adevice capable of running applications, such as professional cameras 1,2, web addresses of the feeds can be registered by others via computersand websites (i.e., via an intermediary) provided for interfacing withclearinghouse 20.

Registering feeds 1-5 also includes providing information about thecontent of the feeds, block 520 of FIG. 5. In one embodiment,application 300 provides for location based tagging of the feed. Suchembodiment can be similar to the location creation and “check-in”afforded by FourSquare and Facebook or can employ hash tags as commonlyused on Twitter. These tags 310 can also be applied by users viewing thefeeds (viewing users) via programs/websites on viewing devices 6-9.Still further, metadata associated with feeds 1-5 may have location data(e.g., GPS type data and/or orientation data) associated therewith thatcan be used to associate the data with a particular event.

In addition to identifying the event that is the subject of the feed, amore specific subject can be identified. In the example of FIG. 1 and anexemplary interface shown in FIG. 3, feed 1 is tagged as beingstatically focused on podium 102. Feed 2 is tagged as being dynamicallyfocused on person 106. Feeds 3 and 5 are tagged as being dynamicallyfocused on person 104. Feed 4 may have no tagging. Clearinghouse 20 isthus provided with information regarding the location and the focus ofthe provided feeds. Alternatively, if a specific focus is notidentified, another application (e.g., clearinghouse 20) can applyanalysis operations to the feed to make its own assessment of the focusof the feed. Examples of another application which can apply analysisalgorithms can be local to the device associated with the viewer (i.e.,viewing device 7) or be performed, a suggested above, by a networkeddevice such as clearinghouse 20. Examples of such analysis operationsinclude those described in “Static Object-of-Interest Recognition fromVideo Streams for Effective Visualization in Small Hand-Held Displays”Hasan, M. Abul; Lee, Seok-Lyong; Kim, Deok-Hwan; Advanced ScienceLetters, Volume 9, Number 1, April 2012, pp. 126-131(6); “Peopledetection and re-identification for multi surveillance cameras” EtienneCorvee, Slawomir Bak and Francois Bremond, VISAPP-InternationalConference on Computer Vision Theory and Applications—2012 (2012);“Automatic segmentation of moving objects in video sequences: a regionlabeling approach;” Tsaig, Y., Averbuch, A.; Circuits and Systems forVideo Technology, Volume: 12, Issue: 7, Page(s): 597-612; and “FASTVIDEO OBJECT SELECTION FOR INTERACTIVE TELEVISION;” Multimedia and Expo,2006 IEEE International Conference; Trichet, R., Sophia Antipolis;Page(s): 989-992. Still further, embodiments are envisioned where a userwatching one feed 1-5 can select an object by clicking on that object inthe video feed. Operations, such as the above listed operations, wouldthen analyze the available feeds to find the feed that provides the bestview of that object (while considering the other inputs regarding videoquality, signal quality, etc.). Still further, upon identifying theevent, the application can present a list of topics and objects ofinterest that are commonly found and of interest at such events. Contentcreation users 1-5 can then select from the provided tag options orcreate their own.

Content creation users 1-5 can further specify whether they want toprovide their stream free of charge or subject to a charge (including anamount and term, such as per hour or per event). In addition toproviding information about the subject of the feed, additional dataabout the feed is also provided to clearinghouse 20. Such additionaldata includes feed quality metrics (resolution, frame rate, color depth,content provider signal quality/strength, content provider signal speed,frame drop information, quality of companion audio with the video, andexistence of companion audio with the video) and any other metric thatimpacts the quality and/or desirability of the feed (including whetherthe feed provides a shaky or steady picture). Such data isillustratively provided as metadata within feeds 1-5 to the extentpossible.

In one embodiment, the transmitted feeds 1-5 are obtained byclearinghouse 20 or otherwise, block 600, FIG. 6. At some point, inputfrom the user, such as identification of an object of interest orviewing device specifications are provided to clearinghouse, block 610.The feeds and viewer input are compared to rank the feeds, block 620.

In another embodiment, feeds are transmitted to clearinghouse 20, block530 of FIG. 5. Accordingly, clearinghouse 20 obtains the feeds, withinformation from one or more of content collection users 1-5 (viatagging or otherwise), from content collection devices 1-5 (via metadataor otherwise), from users of viewing devices 6-9 and from operationsthat analyze feeds 1-5.

Clearinghouse 20 includes servers and databases that provide processingof feeds 1-5 and provide websites that present feeds 1-5 and feedoptions. “Websites” is used as a generic term that describes anypresentation medium that allows for input from a viewing user.

Viewing device 7, including an exemplary interface 40, is shown in FIG.4. A viewing user is able to search via button 42, for a particularevent for which he/she wishes to view video streams. Furthermore, theviewing user is able to specify an object of interest at button 44,block 540 of FIG. 5. By way of the example of FIG. 1, an object ofinterest can be a fixed location or object such as podium 102. Theobject of interest can further be a person such as presenters 104, 106,or (in another setting such as a sporting event) a moving object such asa soccer ball. In one embodiment, viewing user is presented with a listof objects or angles that have been tagged by one of feeds 1-5 fromwhich to select.

The viewing user is further presented with the ability to enterpreferences at button 46, as to the relative importance of variousfactors such as stream resolution, stream quality, ideal viewing angle,whether the stream is a free or pay stream, and other factors. Each ofthe above inputs along with the display capabilities of the panel onwhich the stream is to be displayed are provided to clearinghouse 20.The feeds themselves are illustratively supplied to clearinghouse 20 viafeed receiver 30 (FIG. 2). While the disclosure herein discusses thatvarious processing is performed at clearinghouse 20, it should beappreciated that embodiments are envisioned where such processing isperformed at other locations, such as viewing devices 6-9. It isanticipated that feeds 1-5 are of differing quality. Clearinghouse 20 isalso appraised of its ability and the ability of the employed viewingdevice 6-9 to apply operations to the feed to “clean up” that feed.Thus, a more accurate way to consider the quality of the feeds isinclusive of the improvements (e.g., post-processing effects) that canbe made to each of the feeds without significantly impacting thereal-time nature of the feeds 1-5. Similar analysis is included forthings like the ability to stabilize a shaky feed.

Given the inputs from sources 1-5, the viewer, and viewing devices 6-9,clearinghouse 20 subjects the inputs to feed analyzer 32 (FIG. 2),illustratively including an algorithm, to the rank, illustratively viafeed ranker 34 (FIG. 2), block 550 of FIG. 5, and select a feed or feedsfrom the available feeds that best fits the needs of the viewer.

By way of example, if the viewer is viewing on a smartphone or tablet 6,then getting a feed 1-5 that has a resolution of 1080p may not beimportant because the viewing device may not support such a highresolution anyway. Similarly, a smartphone may be operating over a dataconnection that cannot handle a data rate that is required to transmitvideo having 1080p resolution in real time. Still further similarly, fora viewer wishing to focus on first presenter 104, feed 3 would be rankedlower in that the viewing angle/line of sight 108 of feed 3 providesthat podium 102 and second presenter 106 block camera 3's view of firstpresenter 104. (Embodiments are envisioned where feed 3 is tagged asbeing blocked with respect to first presenter 104 and where videoanalysis is performed to determine that feed 3 presents a poor view offirst presenter 104). It should be appreciated that feed 3's view offirst presenter 104 is not a static quality due to the ability of thepresenter 104 to move and the potential for other moving objects toobscure the view. Accordingly, in embodiments, including where analgorithm determines feed 3's suitability to view presenter 104, theanalysis of feed 3's suitability to view presenter 104 is ongoing andconstantly re-evaluated. Furthermore, embodiments are envisioned whereviewer feedback rankings of the feed are considered in the ranking.Given the inputs, viewing device 7 then presents one or more feeds 1-5(such as the most highly ranked feed) to a user to be watchedsimultaneously, or from which to select a single feed 1-5, FIG. 4, block560.

Additionally, given the constant re-evaluation, embodiments areenvisioned where multiple feeds are stitched together such that a vieweris automatically provided different (switched) feeds depending on thealgorithm determining that different feeds are better. Thus, a userwould not need to select a different feed to be switched to a moreoptimal feed. Examples include attempts to follow a particular race cararound a track where a single vantage point cannot capture the entiretrack (or can capture the whole track but other feeds provide betterviews when the car is at certain parts of the track). Accordingly, aviewer who has selected that car as an object of interest in effectselects a “channel” dedicated to that car and the algorithm switches thepresented feed based upon the changing conditions of which feedcurrently provides the best view thereof.

Embodiments are envisioned where a content creation user is providedwith a notification (such as a light on the application) when his/herfeed is being viewed by a viewer. Accordingly, a content creation useris provided with feedback as to whether his/her feed is being consumedby a viewer. Still further, embodiments are envisioned where viewers canenter information regarding their objects of interest, and suchinformation can be available via the application. Thus, a contentgenerating user can see what objects viewers are interested in. Stillfurther, embodiments are envisioned where viewers can bid or offercompensation for content creators to create streams that focus onobjects of interest to the offering viewer. Content-creating users canthen claim the offers and start generating a requested feed. Stillfurther, embodiments are envisioned where the application on thesmartphone has options presented to the content creator to allow them tochoose the quality of the feed that they are providing. Whereas a phonemay be capable of recording and transmitting 1080p, doing so isrelatively power intensive compared to lower resolutions. Accordingly, acontent creator may choose to record and transmit a lower resolution,such as 480p, so as to lengthen the battery life of his device.

Presentation of video feeds can be done along with advertising. Thisadvertising can be placed alongside the feed presentation, can be madeto interrupt the feed at defined intervals or can be presented when auser starts a feed. The revenue generated from such advertising can besplit with the feed creator 1-5 and the clearinghouse 20 operator. Thus,individuals are incentivized to participate and to participate in a waythat provides quality content that focuses on items of interest toviewers and in a way likely to be chosen by the content ratingoperation. Still further, feed creators 1-5 can establish fee structuresfor their feeds. Thus, when feeds are ranked, viewers can select whetherto consider only free feeds, only pay feeds, or both. Furthermore,viewers can select to consider only feeds below a certain price point.Similarly, subscriptions can be offered to the system as a whole andthere can be multiple levels of subscriptions.

Yet another factor that can be considered in ranking feeds can be thereputation of the content producer. Viewers can manually rank contentproducers, or computers can rank producers via algorithms. These ranksof a feed can build a ranking for the content producer. Accordingly, asubsequent feed by that content producer can benefit (or suffer) fromthe content producer's previous good (or bad) work.

The above detailed description and the examples described therein havebeen presented for the purposes of illustration and description only andnot for limitation. For example, the operations described may be done inany suitable manner. The method may be done in any suitable order stillproviding the described operation and results. It is thereforecontemplated that the present embodiments cover any and allmodifications, variations or equivalents that fall within the spirit andscope of the basic underlying principles disclosed above and claimedherein. Furthermore, while the above description describes hardware inthe form of a processor executing code, hardware in the form of a statemachine, or dedicated logic capable of producing the same effect arealso contemplated.

The software operations described herein can be implemented in hardwaresuch as discrete logic fixed function circuits including but not limitedto state machines, field programmable gate arrays, application specificcircuits or other suitable hardware. The hardware may be represented inexecutable code stored in non-transitory memory such as RAM, ROM orother suitable memory in hardware descriptor languages such as but notlimited to RTL and VHDL or any other suitable format. The executablecode when executed may cause an integrated fabrication system tofabricate an IC with the operations described herein

Also, integrated circuit design systems/integrated fabrication systems(e.g., work stations including, as known in the art, one or moreprocessors, associated memory in communication via one or more buses orother suitable interconnect and other known peripherals) are known thatcreate wafers with integrated circuits based on executable instructionsstored on a computer readable medium such as but not limited to CDROM,RAM, other forms of ROM, hard drives, distributed memory, etc. Theinstructions may be represented by any suitable language such as but notlimited to hardware descriptor language (HDL), Verilog or other suitablelanguage. As such, the logic, software, and circuits described hereinmay also be produced as integrated circuits by such systems using thecomputer readable medium with instructions stored therein. For example,an integrated circuit with the aforedescribed software, logic, andstructure may be created using such integrated circuit fabricationsystems. In such a system, the computer readable medium storesinstructions executable by one or more integrated circuit design systemsthat causes the one or more integrated circuit design systems to producean integrated circuit.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of sharing a video feed about an eventvia a network, comprising: providing information about content of thevideo feed by associating a hash tag with the video feed; andtransmitting the hash tag about the video feed to an aggregator via thenetwork for subsequent distribution.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereintransmitting further comprises transmitting the video feed to a viewingdevice.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering thevideo feed with the aggregator.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein theproviding information about content of the video feed comprisesproviding at least one of: metadata associated with the video feed, andlocation data associated with the event and wherein transmittingcomprises transmitting at least one of the metadata and location data tothe aggregator.
 5. The method of claim 2, further comprising providingthe hash tag associated with the video feed by the viewing device. 6.The method of claim 2, further comprising: entering preferenceinformation associated with the video feed; and displaying the videofeed on the viewing device based on the preference information.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, wherein the preference information includesinformation related to at least one of: a viewing resolution, a viewingquality, a viewing angle, and a viewing charge.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising tagging the video feed with focus information. 9.An apparatus for sharing a video feed about an event via a network, theapparatus comprising: a processor executing computer-executableinstructions configured to provide information about content of thevideo feed by associating a hash tag with the video feed, and totransmit the hash tag about the video feed to an aggregator via thenetwork for subsequent distribution.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the aggregator is configured to make the video feed available toa viewing device.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processor isconfigured to register the video feed with the aggregator.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the information about the content of thevideo feed includes at least one of: metadata associated with the videofeed, and location data associated with the event.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 10, wherein the hash tag associated with the video feed isprovided by the viewing device.
 14. The apparatus of claim 10, whereinthe viewing device is configured to receive preference informationassociated with the video feed.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14, whereinthe preference information includes information related to at least oneof: a viewing resolution, a viewing quality, a viewing angle, and aviewing charge.
 16. A computer readable medium containing non-transitoryinstructions thereon, that when interpreted by at least one processorcause the at least one processor to: provide information about contentof a video feed by associating a hash tag with the video feed; andtransmit the hash tag about the video feed to an aggregator via anetwork for subsequent distribution.
 17. The computer readable medium ofclaim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the at least oneprocessor to transmit the video feed to a viewing device.
 18. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions furthercause the at least one processor to register the video feed with theaggregator.
 19. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein theinstructions further cause the at least one processor to provide atleast one of: metadata associated with the video feed, and location dataassociated with the event.
 20. The computer readable medium of claim 17,wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor toprovide the hash tag associated with the video feed by the viewingdevice.